Frankly I have mixed feelings about bonsai. We have some bonsai growing in my small balcony on the 17th floor in a suburb of Mumbai. We have one 18-year old ficus species that recently fruited for the first time and it gives us great joy to see it flourish like a miniature tree. Our Ficus virens has been fruiting since the last three/four months. A single stalk of Ficus bengalensis has grown almost a foot high with two stems of which one of them has ripe crimson fruits. Although we had initially planned on keeping bonsai we now don't trim the roots. So they are not true bonsai and are quite high. One of our 'bonsai' grew too tall and we gave it to the gardener to plant in the common garden of our residential complex. It is flourishing.
Incidentally, a large banyan Tree came crashing down in the business district of south Mumbai, not far from my office. Maybe, it should have been trimmed judiciously by BMC experts considering the stronger velocity of winds during the monsoon period and the roots being truncated whenever there is some pavement/road digging for repairs, etc. A larger-than-life tree gone...forever! Regards, Kiran Srivastava Mumbai On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 10:48 AM, <formpeja...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Someone has said you are right. Yes in one aspect you are. > But other points to consider > 1. People keep bonsai in house, balcany, small gardens in front of the > house where space restriction comes. > 2. No one make bonsai in forests and jungles where lot of space is > available for individual plant to grow to full extent. > 3. Bonsai are made of generally big growing trees, which are practically > imposible to grow in balcany with the size 4' by 6'. > 4. Those who have access to open gardens infront of the house can grow max > one or two big trees. > 5. In such cases I feel bonsai atleast bring some greenary to the house, > preserve the genome. > 6. They continue to do the function of trees, that is producing oxygen, > using carbondioxide etc etc. Neede in cement jungle. > 7. Think about the asthetic beauty given by them. > 8. Think about the people who are not actually been able to go out and > admire the beauty. > 9. Think about the creater's joy when a successful bonsai is achieved. > 10. Looking at a flowering/ fruting/ prfectly shaped bonsai is soothing to > mind, help in reducing BP. gives pleasures etc etc. > I think benefits are more. I do have pictures of some beautiful bonsai. > Will have to search. May send some time. > Madhuri > Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kamal <kamal.koth...@gmail.com> > Sender: indiantreepix@googlegroups.com > Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:27:59 > To: efloraofindia<indiantreepix@googlegroups.com> > Subject: [efloraofindia:74387] Bonsai plants > > Namaskaar > > I had a query for Bonsai plants. I am personally of the opinion that > when a tree is grown as a Bonsai, we are actually stunting the growth > artificially, virtually like making a pigmy of a human being. I feel > sad when I see Bonsai plants. Such wonderful specimens grown in small > pots/tubs. > > I am against this practice but would like some experts' views on my > thoughts. > > Appreciate all inputs. > > Warm regards to the Group > > Kamal >